Retailers face further disruption to festive favorites as nearly 800 workers at Bakkavor’s Spalding plant in Lincolnshire vote for an additional three months of industrial action.
The strike, now in its third month, has already caused shortages of taramasalata, with shelves now seeing gaps in cheese and chive dips, soups, and pasta sauces.
The workers, who are members of the Unite union, are demanding better pay than the current £11.44 per hour—just 10p above the legal minimum for over-21s. With the action extending into the critical holiday season, the impact on party staples could deepen, creating challenges for both retailers and consumers preparing for Christmas celebrations.
This prolonged dispute underscores ongoing tensions in the food production sector amid rising living costs and labor demands.
The Unite general secretary, Sharon Graham, said, “Bakkavor is an incredibly wealthy company with a chief executive on a two million-plus salary. It can fully afford to pay its workers a fair pay increase.
“Our members are showing incredible courage and have remained steadfast in their campaign and will keep fighting until Bakkavor comes to its senses and makes a fair offer. In the meantime, Unite will pursue every avenue in the UK or abroad to ensure that the workers secure a decent deal.”
The ongoing industrial action at Bakkavor’s Spalding plant is impacting supermarket shelves, with dips, soups, and sauces reported to be in lower-than-usual supply ahead of the festive season.
While the company has relocated production of taramasalata to another site to restore availability, some products remain affected, including low-fat cheese and chive dip, which has reportedly ceased production entirely.
The Guardian reports that Tesco faces reduced supplies of cheddar cheese and chive dip, reduced-fat sour cream, and other premium range items like whipped feta with mint, carbonara sauce, and chicken and vegetable soup.
Marks & Spencer is short of one item in its popular "picky tea" range—the reduced-fat sour cream and chive dip. Meanwhile, Waitrose reports shortages of taramasalata, four cheese sauce, and beetroot and feta salad from its own-label lines.
